Gay Travel: Romance and Adventure on Maui, Hawaii

Holy Crap! I’ve got John Boehner’s hands!” My partner, Bob, and I had been so busy leading up to this trip to Maui and neighboring islands that we got a little giddy rushing around at the end. The night before our departure, we decided at the spur of the moment to go get (our first ever) spray tans just before the shop closed. Others with more tan expertise will tell you about putting lots of blocker on your hands before stepping into the booth—I wish they’d told me. The next morning, on the way to the airport, my hands were a shocking shade of pumpkin orange, much like representative Boehner. The irrepressible laughter that came from this goof set the tone for our entire trip—this was to be an excursion of reaching out and exploring a new destination as well as turning in and connecting in renewed ways—the perfect blend of romance and adventure.

Close your eyes and think of the word paradise. What do you see? I’m willing to bet it looks a lot like Maui. The bar for idyllic vacations is set pretty high when you are visiting the Hawai‘ian Islands. They provide for so many of us, the iconic imagery of a getaway in paradise. Such great expectations might easily lead to disappointment, but Maui pulls a fast one and exceeds our expectations.